Territorial A-Z

Public Notice, Copy of Instruction for Wyandotte FloatAuthors: No authors specified.Date: September 1, 1855It appeared that Dr. Johnston Lykins, an active Indian agent and land speculator, made this copy in longhand on September 1, 1855, of a notice issued the previous day by the surveyor general for Kansas and Nebraska territories, John Calhoun. These "instructions for Wyandot float" were said to provide protection of "the rights of the Wyandott Indians reserves," described here as "thirty-five in number . . . One Section of 640 acres each, 'out of any of the lands west of the Mississippi river, set apart for Indian use.'" The document provided the details for how this was to work in practice.

Keywords:Armstrong, Lucy B.; Armstrong, Silas; Indian floats; Indian lands; Shawnee Indian ReserveLetter, C. [Robinson] to My Dear S [Sara Robinson]Authors:Robinson, Charles Date: January 6, 1859From Washington, D.C., Charles Robinson wrote his wife back home in Lawrence regarding land and railroad issues that he was working on behalf of in the capital. Robinson briefly addresses issues having to do with Indian land disputes, but focuses even more on the competition for railroads being fought out in Washington between Lawrence, Leavenworth, and Kansas City. ". . . Lawrence must fight its own battles . . . . I hope to be able to make Lawrence a point on both roads before we get through." [For more information on this battle over railroads, see I. E. Quastler, "Charting a Course: Lawrence, Kansas, and Its Railroad Strategy, 1854-1872," Kansas History 18 (Spring 1995): 18-33. For a time, civic and business leaders sought to make Lawrence the regional rail center with an aggressive promotion's plan, but they ultimately, and perhaps inevitably, lost the prize to Kansas City; this piece is largely drawn from the author's 1979 book-length study, The Railroads of Lawrence.]